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Analytical Grammar or R&S English?


PollyOR
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I enjoy using Rod & Staff textbooks (Math, Science, English, etc.), but I've come to a point where I am considering Analytical Grammar for my 8th grader. Any advice?

 

We used R&S 3, 4, & 5 but she had a hard time with R&S 6. We took a long break, and now we are trying R&S 6 again. She is definitely ready now, but she dreads the lessons. I try to keep it short by doing the lesson orally which helps. Yet, when I look ahead at doing another 100+ lessons, I groan too.

 

I watched the videos on Analytical Grammar's website last night. Erin is a very good salesperson! It sounds great and I like the fact that we can do it in chunks. But, I already own R&S 6 & 7. I need someone to convince to spend more $. :D

 

I need to add that dd is struggling with depression and is easily overwhelmed. We are working with doctors, but until we get things evened out dd needs short lessons that won't frustrate her.

 

TIA!

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Analytical Grammar... definately. Moving from R&S to AG was the best thing we ever did. My daughter understands grammar so much better than she did with R&S and the stress and boredom was just gone.

 

AG is so flexible. If your daughter feels overwhelmed, she can do just a few sentences a day or you can spread it over a few years by doing it in blocks. You can do it any way that works for your daughter.

 

I love it. My daughter loves it.

 

Heather

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I don't have any experience with R & S. We used Shurley 5 before switching to AG. Although, I liked Shurley 5, I decided to switch because the amount of repetition between 5 and 6 was obscene, imo. I would say that the money I spent on AG was one of the best choices I have ever made curriculum-wise.

 

Here's my review of AG:

 

Analytical Grammar website is http://www.analyticalgrammar.com. The videos at the website do a great job of explaining the program. We are using Analytical Grammar for 6th-7th-8th grade. AG breaks it up into 3 seasons. 6th grade has 10 weeks of daily grammar work, then review 1x every 2 weeks. 7th grade has 7 weeks of daily grammar work, then review 1x every month. 8th grade has 17 weeks of daily grammar work and then you are done. It can be completed in 1 or 2 years as well. We have completed Season 1 and Season 2 so far.

 

Season 1 - basic grammar (parts of speech, parts of a sentence, basics of diagramming

Season 2 - advanced grammar (verbal phrases and subordinate clauses) (this completes the study of grammar)

Season 3 - application of grammatical knowledge to the rules of capitalization, punctuation and usage

 

Pros:

• Clear and concise

• Pick up and go (little to no preparation required from mom)

• Teach lesson on first day of week and student can work on their own for rest of week. Only checking/correcting required from mom.

• Each lesson in Season 1 has a theme (American flag, humorous Johnny Carson story, women & math, Mexican-Americans, Martin Luther King Jr., Jewish Americans, fairy tales, etc.) which makes the lessons more interesting.

• Built-in review – new concepts are learned, but old concepts (ex. adverbs, conjunctions, gerund phrases) are never dropped.

• Sentences are much more complex than Shurley grammar.

• The review paragraphs are from real books (in other words, the sentences are not made up especially for grammar parsing).

• Novelty of getting a letter grade on test

• Comfort of letter grade for perfectionist mom (ds is missing some but still getting an A)

• Student book turns into a reference manual when you remove student exercises.

• Erin Karl (author’s daughter) is very responsive to questions on AG yahoo group.

 

Cons:

• None that I have found

• Some say it’s expensive. I spent $120 but will use it over 3 years. It has been worth every penny in the TIME that it has saved me.

 

Disclaimer: I have a master’s degree in Operations Research, which is concerned with all things efficiency. Part of the reason I love AG is that it is the most efficient use of my time and my child’s time. This leaves time for other wonderful things like math, history, music, and sports! I imagine that if you are a good teacher, and you teach grammar year after year after year, you learn to make your lessons more and more efficient. That must be with the author, Robin Finley, did.

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